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Adventurers in common rail repair

A few month ago I was given a Peugeot 306 HDI, and the reason for this generosity was that the engine wont start and it has been to several garages and no one can fix it. Gee thanks....
So over the last few weeks when I can be bothered I gone about trying to solve this crap puzzle.
Anyways Ive done a few checks and found that it had some evil smelling fuel in the tank, so I drained the fuel and put some fresh bio in. I checked the lift pump in the tank which some one has replaced and wired straight to the ignition.

Next the code reader when on and it came up low pump pressure.
A few internet checks later an i found that, the fuel filter can be fitted incorrectly and it happens quite often, which can take out the high pressure pump the fuel regulator and the injectors.
So it could be one or more of these, or an ECU fault, the easiest place to start is the fuel regulator So I removed it and cleaned it out with brake cleaner and compressed air. I fitted it back on with new Orings and tried crank it over and got a little pop, but it still would not run.
A few weeks later I bought some areo start and gave it a squirt to see what would happen. The engine fired straight up and kept running.
Well this is promising. The ECU is fine. The engine will now start with a squirt, and I took it for a short drive but the engine will not start hot or cold with out a squirt.
After a bit of head scratching and internet searching, I found out that the injectors are very easy to test, and that if even just one is faulty the engine wont start.
The test is you remove the return pipes on each injector and connect a hose to each one. Each hose goes to a small container and you crank or start the engine for 1 minute and measure the fuel in each container. There should be less than 40ml in each.
Well after about 10seconds you could see the injector 1 had over flowed the container and number 2 wasn't much better. No doubt that why im getting the low pump pressure error all the fuels going back to the tank. Injector 3 and 4 didn't even fill up the hose.
After a bit more looking on the internet I found 2 used injectors from the UK for $50 each so Ive order them.

So that's where im up to so far, when they get here Ill flush out the fuel lines and replace the filter and the injectors.
Wish me luck.....

Re: Adventurers in common rail repair

Got the 2nd hand injectors from the UK, and got a chance to fit them today. First I pulled out the filter and housing and found that a seal inside the filter was completely broken and was just rattling around inside the filter.
That's not a good start. Anyways I cleaned out the housing and fitted a new filter and seals. I flushed the fuel lines and put it all back together.
The result is much worse. Now the engine wont run at all and if i spray areo start down it it starts but then runs on 2 cylinders before stopping. Lots of white smelly smoke too.
I think the injectors i got from the UK are ****, so Ill have to deal with that now! I was a bit suspicious about then when I unwrapped them, they were filthy rusty and had no caps on to ports.
Ill do another leak off test, and go from there.

Re: Adventurers in common rail repair

Ok so the pug now runs, turns out it was one of the second hand injectors that was faulty, not both. I replaced it with the one of my old injectors that was the "best of the bad"
It now starts with without areo start, and sounds much better. Ill hit them up to replace the dud.
Just notice that my previous post has automatically taken out the cuss word and replaced it with **** I didnt think that "sh!t" was that bad!

Re: Adventurers in common rail repair

Nice work!

I have 2 fuel filters for your car you can have for free if you are happy to pay the postage. I got them when I bought a 306 HDi with the aim of biodieseling it. Plans changed (bought the Mercedes) and I moved it on before adding bio. Still have the filters. Valeo brand, part no. 587 901

Re: Adventurers in common rail repair

Just an update, Ive been driving the 306 HDI pug around for a few weeks and it goes like a rocket on bio. I did around 200 km, and then it started cutting out and stopping at random. It will always start again if the key is turned off and then back on again, but a bit disappointing. The ECU code says its a primary pump fault, so Im going to have to dig a bit deeper. The fuel pressure regulator can give problems so Ill look at that next.